


Solve for XX

by neveralarch



Category: Gokusen (Manga)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-23
Updated: 2014-12-23
Packaged: 2018-03-02 22:56:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2829002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neveralarch/pseuds/neveralarch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The problem with teaching girls was that Kumiko had no idea what to say to them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Solve for XX

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ryfkah](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ryfkah/gifts).



The problem with teaching girls was that Kumiko had no idea what to say to them.

She'd spent years teaching at boy's schools, and she had been raised in her grandfather's household, surrounded by men. Kumiko had been friends with girls in school, sort of, and she'd talked to other female teachers professionally. But whenever she tried to interact with the girls at her new school, Kumiko felt like she was doing something wrong.

It didn't help that they kept giggling at her.

Kumiko surveyed the class. They were supposed to be quietly working through a few problems, but instead they were gossiping, doing their make-up, and doodling hearts into their notebooks. Kumiko sighed. Teaching girls was so different from teaching boys!

She stood up, and the girls glanced at her before going back to whatever they were doing instead of working. Kumiko picked on Nakano, a big girl with long braided hair who was twisted in her chair to argue with Arai sitting behind her.

"Nakano!" said Kumiko. "Stand up and tell us how to find x in problem three."

Nakano stood up, but she didn't say anything. Instead she screwed up her nose and looked at the ceiling like it might give her an answer.

"Nakano?"

"Dunno," mumbled Nakano. She was swaying a little on her feet, and when Kumiko looked closer she realized that Nakano's nose was screwed up with pain, not concentration. Looking down, Kumiko noticed that there was blood on Nakano's leg.

Kumiko blanched. This was a teacher's worst nightmare.

"Hey," Kumiko muttered, leaning in so Nakano could still hear her. "If you need to go to the nurse's office I can give you a pass. Or I have pads in my desk."

"What?" Nakano looked quizzically at Kumiko, and then followed Kumiko's gaze down to her leg. She scowled and scrubbed at the blood. "I'm not on my period! I was fighting with Arai and she knocked me over and I scraped up my knee, that's all."

Kumiko relaxed. "What were you fighting about?"

Nakano clamped her jaw and wouldn't say anything. Miyamoto, sitting in the back with her feet up on the chair in front of her, laughed. "Nakano's mad because Arai stole her dog," she said.

Arai shot up from her desk. "Not true! The dog chose to live at my house of his own free will!"

Nakano went red and tried to punch Arai in the face. Arai dodged, and the girls around them scooted back, forming a circle with their desks.

Kumiko smiled as she went to separate the two girls. Now that she looked a little closer, the girls hadn't been doodling hearts, but death threats. At least one girl had been rubbing concealer over a tattoo of a spider on her wrist. And Arai had a pretty good roundhouse kick. Maybe, Kumiko decided, this wouldn't be so difficult after all. Teaching girls actually seemed pretty much the same as teaching boys. 

Kumiko caught Arai's ankle in one hand and Nakano's wrist in the other, twisting so that both of them fell onto the floor. They started swearing at her.

Well, there was one big difference. These girls seemed to have a much bigger vocabulary.

Kumiko dusted off her hands and went to work.


End file.
